


Of Fever And Chocolate

by aschicca



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 22:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aschicca/pseuds/aschicca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in late season 1. Justin has the flu. Debbie needs to work and can’t cook for him. Brian ‘happens’ to be in the neighbourhood and brings him some food. Based on a prompt given to me by lj's chimerachan but I changed it a tiny bit… I know chimerachan wanted h/c but this is season 1 Brian! I think there’s only some level of comfort that this Brian can give *g*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Fever And Chocolate

Early that Monday morning, Brian entered the Diner. He spotted Michael sitting in a booth with Emmett and Ted, and made his way towards the group. Debbie stood beside the table to take the boys’ orders, but was too interested in the conversation they were having to do her job. Brian shook his head, smiling.

Approaching the booth, Brian caught the end of Emmett’s sentence.

“…weird. And he’s not here this morning, either.”

“It _is_ weird, actually,” Michael said, “One would think he’d never let the chance to wave his ass in Brian’s face pass him by!” 

Ted laughed at Michael’s remark; Emmett remained silent, a concerned expression still on his face. And Debbie… well, Debbie’s reaction was the one that surprised Brian the most. She slapped Michael’s upside the head, hard, eliciting an outraged, “Ma!” from him. 

But Deb hitting her son was almost a daily occurrence, so it didn’t came as a surprise for Brian. No, what caught Brian’s attention was the worry in Deb’s voice when she spoke. “Don’t you ‘Ma,’ me, Michael Novotny! You should be ashamed of yourself! The poor kid…”

Suddenly, Brian realized he was standing in the middle of the Diner – and people had started looking at him in a weird way – so he finally made his way to the booth and sat down next to Emmett.

“Morning, boys,” Brian said pretending to have just arrived. “Coffee, Deb?”

Deb glared at Brian, who smiled at her in an angelic way, then her attention shifted on Emmett’s questioning voice. “Deb? What were you saying?”

“Yeah, Deb, don’t let something as minimal as my breakfast distract you from your gossip! Pray tell, what were you saying?” Brian grinned.

“Asshole,” came from everyone’s, but Michael’s, mouth. Then Deb said, “Justin has the flu. The poor kid is barricaded in his room since Friday night! He doesn’t want to infect Vic, you see? So he basically lies in his bed,” everyone ignored Michael’s ‘That’s not _his_ bed! That’s still my room!’ and Debbie continued, “and feels miserable. I hated having to leave him this morning because he won’t be able to eat anything until I get back! He doesn’t allow Vic to even come close to his room, and obviously doesn’t wander around the house himself. And I have a double shift!”

“Poor baby,” Emmett said. “I’d go there myself, Deb, but I won’t be free until tonight and by then you’ll be home yourself.”

“Don’t you worry, honey, I understand.” Deb replied, caressing Emmett’s face. “What about you, Michael?”

“Me? No way, Ma. I have to work, too, and I don’t want to catch the kid’s germs anyway!” came Michael’s horrified reply.

“Michael Novotny! Didn’t I teach you anything?” Debbie yelled.

“Yes, Deb. You taught him everything about safe sex and how to put a condom on a cucumber. The most important lessons for a young boy.” Brian intervened. “Now, can we stop talking about the dying twat and eat some breakfast? We’ll starve too without you Deb, don’t you know it?”

“The day you will think about anyone else but your own dick, Brian Kinney, the world will come to an end!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Until then, can I at least have a coffee?” Brian smiled and raised his cup towards Deb, who stomped away muttering curses under her breath.

*** 

Vic sat in front of the TV, the volume lowered so as not to disturb Justin, and asked himself if he should try again to bring the kid some food. He had already tried a couple of times that day, but Justin’s pleading, “Go away, Vic, please,” murmured in a hoarse voice, had convinced Vic he didn’t need to add concern to the long list of things that were giving Justin pain. 

The ringing of the bell distracted Vic from his musings, and he went to see who was at the door. To say he was surprised by the person he saw outside was an understatement.

“Brian?”

“Hey, Vic. May I come in?”

“Of course! What are you doing here? Were you needing something?” Vic remembered all too well how many times a younger version of the man who now stood in front of him, had come to see Vic, to talk to him, to listen to him, to simply sit beside him and pretend for a while that he didn’t have to go back to his parents’ house. 

Brian smiled and patted Vic’s shoulder. “I don’t need anything, Vic, thank you. I just… I was in the neighbourhood and I thought to bring something to Justin.” Brian showed Vic the bag he was holding.

“Oh,” Vic smiled. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate the company.” 

Brian nodded and made his way to the stairs, leaving Vic with a knowing expression on his face: Brian would deny it until he had only a whiff of breath in his lungs, but he cared about Justin a great deal.

*

Not bothering to knock, Brian entered Justin’s room and found it immersed in a dim light. Justin lay curled under what looked like a thousand blankets, and his face, the only thing visible under that cocoon, was flushed. His nose red, his eyes puffy, Justin looked at Brian for a brief while, obviously wondering if he was having a hallucination, then simply said, “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. I see you’re alive after all.”

“Were you worried about me?” Justin replied, smiling.

“Yeah, right. I just thought it was weird not to see you at Woody’s or Babylon this weekend.”

“Oh, so you weren’t worried, but you noticed I wasn’t around. I think I’m satisfied.”

“Shut up, you twat.” Brian replied, making Justin laugh softly for a while, before his laughter morphed into a violent cough. “Jesus, are you contagious?” Brian asked horrified.

“Probably,” Justin replied when his cough seemed to calm down a little. He sat on the bed and reached for the bottle of water on his bedside table. Justin drank, then looked straight into Brian’s eyes and asked, “Don’t tell me you didn’t think about catching this flu when you came here! I think I should gloat more but my head hurts too much. Remind me to brag about this later.”

“Little shit! I only came here because Deb whined about you being left with no food for a whole day while she worked. I wanted to get her off my back, that’s all.” Brian shrugged.

“She asked _you_ to come?”

“No one else could play nurse today, and she can be quite convincing.”

Justin nodded, then for the first time he noticed the bag Brian was holding. “What’s in there?”

“Food for the patient, what else?” Was Brian’s sarcastic reply. “Here,” he said and handed the bag to Justin.

Inside, Justin discovered, there were a bowl of chicken soup and a handful of Justin’s favourite chocolate bars. “Thanks, Brian,” Justin said, smiling up to Brian, “I had no idea Deb knew my favourite brand of chocolate.”

“Deb knows everything. I thought you knew.”

“Yeah, you have a point. It’s just…”

“What?” Brian’s tone was bored now.

“Nothing. I was just thinking that I usually buy these chocolate bars to eat when I come to the loft, since there’s never anything to eat there. That’s all.”

“I didn’t know you came there to eat, Sunshine.”

Justin gave a curt laugh. “I cannot live on your cock alone, Brian.”

“Can’t you? I’m surprised.” Brian replied, tongue in cheek. “Anyway, you better eat something now too since my cock is not coming anywhere near that nest of germs that is your mouth.”

Justin was not really hungry but decided to eat something nonetheless. After all, it wasn’t every day that Brian Kinney played delivery boy. While Justin ate, Brian sat on a chair in front of the window, far away from Justin’s bed (because one thing was going to see the brat, another was putting himself right in the germs’ way), and the two of them talked about nothing for a while.

Brian noticed Justin ate half of the soup and one of the chocolate bars, before placing the bag on the floor and laying back down on the bed. He was visibly tired but struggling to stay awake.

“Right,” Brian said standing up. “I should go now, I can’t spend the rest of my day holding your hand.”

“You didn’t come close enough to even touch my hand, Brian.”

“And I have no intention of touching anything infective.”

“Does this mean you’re not going to tuck me in?” Justin smiled.

“Wait till you get better than you can tuck _me_ in,” Brian replied winking, making Justin laugh.

“See you soon?” Justin asked, stopping Brian from walking out of his room.

“Possibly. Now rest.”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you for coming, you didn’t have to.”

Brian turned around to look at Justin. “No, I didn’t have to.”

“But you did it anyway.”

“It would appear so.”

“Because Debbie forced you.”

Brian tilted his head and gave Justin a weird look. “Of course.”

“No other reason. You didn’t miss me, did you?”

“Well, your ass is not exactly repulsive. I might have wanted to take it home during the weekend, and you weren’t around.”

Justin smiled brightly. “My ass is pleased to hear that.”

Brian laughed, then, after muttering “Twat,” in a tone that sounded affectionate even to his own ears, finally opened the door and left the room.

Justin fell asleep almost immediately, a happy smile on his face.

*** 

“Sunshine?” Debbie’s voice startled Justin awake hours after Brian’s visit.

“Hey, Deb, you’re home.”

“How are you feeling, kiddo?” Debbie asked pressing her hand on Justin’s forehead to feel his temperature.

“Better, thank you.”

“Good, you don’t feel so hot anymore. The fucking meds are finally starting to do their job.”

“Yep,” Justin said sitting up on the bed. “Uh… Deb?”

“Yes, kiddo?”

“What’s my favourite brand of chocolate?”

“How the hell should I know?” Debbie replied puzzled. “Are you delusional?”

Justin giggled, a sound that warmed Debbie’s heart but didn’t ease her worry about the mental state of her Sunshine. “No, I’m fine, Deb. Just checking on something.”

“If you say so, Sunshine. Now lay back, I’m going to cook you something. You need to eat after being with no food all day!” And with that Debbie made her way downstairs.

Justin hid the bag with the soup and the chocolate under his bed – no need for Debbie to know about Brian’s visit, since apparently she hadn’t sent him – then lay back down under the covers. His hands behind his head, Justin stared at the ceiling, grinning.

And, just as he had done a few days before in Brian’s jeep, he sing-songed, “You so care about meeee! You love me sooo much!”


End file.
